Lael Brainard on Obama's trade policies

Lael Brainard at an event a year ago

Lael Brainard of the Brookings Institution debated Philip Levy of the American Enterprise Institute on trade issues last week.  Brainard has been mentioned as a potential Obama USTR: The Cabinet: U.S. Trade Representative. 

Doug Palmer reports for Reuters (McCain, Obama campaigns clash on trade deals), describing Brainard as a representative of the Obama campaign:

Obama would shift resources from negotiating trade agreements to enforcing existing agreements:

"We have to see a material shift in resources within USTR (the U.S. Trade Representative's office)" toward more trade enforcement, said Lael Brainard, an international trade policy expert on leave from the Brookings Institution....

Brainard said President George W. Bush had negotiated "a lot of trade agreements" since 2001 that have provided little real benefit for middle class Americans.

At the same time, the number of cases the United States has filed against other countries for violating World Trade Organization rules has declined to three per year under Bush from about 11 annually under former President Bill Clinton.

Based on growth in world trade and the rise in the number of WTO members, "you would have expected 17 cases per year" if the Bush administration was serious about enforcement, said Brainard, who served in the Clinton White House....

Obama would focus on alleged Chinese currency manipulation:

Brainard also criticized the Bush administration for repeatedly failing to label China as a currency manipulator.

Bush's approach to the hot-button issue has angered labor groups and many manufacturers, who believe China is deliberately undervaluing its currency to boost its exports and thwart imports from the United States and other suppliers.

"We can't keep giving China a free pass on maintaining an undervalued currency. We did that for about seven years," Brainard said. Obama would use "existing authorities and all diplomatic means at his disposal" to pressure China and supports legislation to give the White House more tools, she said.

Obama vaugely supporting of WTO negotiations:

Brainard did not mention the beleaguered Doha round in her prepared remarks, but in response to a question said Obama regretted the collapse of efforts in July to reach a deal.

"I think, in general, the smoke has not really cleared in terms of what happened in Geneva and it's going to take a while to figure out how to come back," Brainard said.

Don't expect Obama to support a Congressional vote on the preferential trade agreements with Columbia, Panama, or Korea following the election:

Obama opposes the Colombia free trade agreement on the grounds that country has not done enough to stop murders of trade unionists, and has called for renegotiation of the South Korea agreement to provide U.S. automakers better terms.

Brainard dismissed business community hopes that Obama, if elected, would support Congress approving one or more of the pacts in a lame duck session after the November 4 election to get them off the slate for next year.

The Bloomberg story (Obama Opposes Vote on Columbia FTA) reports that Obama is also skeptical of recent Bush Administration work on investment treaties with China and India:

Obama also is skeptical of initiatives by the Bush administration to negotiate investment treaties with China and India, said Brainard.

The administration began negotiations this year for separate treaties with India and China that would govern how foreign investors are treated. While those efforts garnered strong support from U.S. businesses, both Brainard and Levy said a new administration would re-evaluate them.

Obama would also "upgrade" NAFTA's labor and environmental components:

He would also ''update'' the North American Free Trade Agreement to include tougher labor and environment provisions, she said.

Comments

[Forex Trading]

I must say that I did appreciate Obama's attention to the Chines market! It would be silly to ignore such a fast growing country (economy wise). Thumbs up for the environment provision as well!

[forex trading]

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